Halloween 5: A Vingança de Michael Myers

After the success of HALLOWEEN 4, it was predictable that the studio would go on with another sequel. The only good thing about this one is that it picks up the story exactly where the last film left off, giving an explanation for the fact that little DANIELLE HARRIS is behind bars in a clinic for disturbed children. But within the first half-hour of the story, it's obvious that this is no HALLOWEEN 4.

As someone else pointed out, DONALD PLEASANCE is just about as psychotic as Michael Meyers in his quest to find the serial killer who seems to be eradicating all the citizens of Haddonfield every time it's Halloween. ELLIE CORNELL as Rachel is killed off early in the story and, unfortunately, there are no other likable members among the youthful cast to root for. It's as if they were scripted, all of them, to deserve their fate.

Without a good plot structure and much too much repetition, this one begins to sink before the midway point. All of the fright sequences are done competently enough but just don't have the same tension or creepiness of the better ones in this series.

Summing up: Not helped by Donald Pleasance's decision to ham it up unmercifully to draw attention--but it doesn't work. They should have quit after HALLOWEEN 4.

It's good that Halloween 5 picks up where Halloween 4 left off but that doesn't save the film from almost bombing in my opinion. I really love the Halloween franchise, it was a great idea by John Carpenter and Debra Hill that was then dissected by other directors (with the exception of Rick Rosenthal). The direction the director went with this movie is strange, there are still the same old themes (murders, Halloween time, Dr. Loomis, the Strode/Myers Family dispute) but this time the movie and Michael both take on a whole new image. I will not spoil this movie for anyone so I will let you just watch it and make your own assessment as to what you think. Overall it wasn't bad at all.

Halloween 5, yeah, this was a disappointment, most fans don't really dig this sequel which is understandable. It is kind of stupid or just plain stupid; this is the story that most horror movie sequels try to rip off, the telepathic powers that get really annoying. It seems like every horror movie sequel has to have it, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street had it, why not include the Halloween franchise as well? Unfortunately I didn't get into it, I think because it was extremely unoriginal and not to mention that the story didn't really continue from the 4th sequel. The ending of Halloween 4 had Jamie turning evil, I guess they just totally dropped that idea which could have been great to see, instead we got a silly and typical horror story that was badly acted, edited, and directed.

Michael Myers makes his way into a small shack by the river owned by a local hermit. Once there, Michael collapses and remains in a comatose state for a full year. On October 30th Michael awakens, kills the hermit, and returns to terrorize Haddonfield, where his young niece, Jamie Lloyd continues to live after nearly being killed by Michael the year before. Jamie has been mute since attacking her foster mother at the end of film 4, but exhibits signs of a telepathic link with her evil uncle. Dr. Sam Loomis realizes that this link exists, and plans to use it to put an end to Michael's reign of terror. Michael begins stalking Rachel and her friend Tina. After both are killed Jamie agrees to put herself in danger to help Loomis stop Michael for good. With Jamie's help, Loomis lures Michael back to the old Myers house. Michael makes many attempts at killing Jamie, finally getting the chance to in the attic. Jamie tries appealing to Michael's humanity by calling him "Uncle". Myers pauses, prompting Jamie to ask to see his face. He takes off his mask, and a lone tear runs down his face. Jamie reaches up to wipe it away, and Michael is thrown into a rage. The killer pursues Jamie, who runs into Loomis. The doctor seems to turn on the girl as he shouts for Michael to come and take her. It turns out that he has used the girl as bait, thus leading Michael to walk beneath a heavy chain net. But you have to see what happens next by watching the movie.

While granted that this movie isn't the worst movie in the world, I do enjoy the Halloween sequels, I think this was a fall in the story line for the Halloween series. It really could have had a lot of potential, but since they dropped a few ideas that were presented in the previous Halloween sequel. Not to mention this is one of the rare times that I wasn't scared by Michael, he's loosing his touch… no, I can't say that, please I can't say that… it's the writing! It's the blasted writing! So if you wanna see the sequels, yeah, do watch it just to see the story continue, but if you are just looking for a scary movie in general, you can skip Halloween 5.

5/10

'Halloween 5' begins immediately where part 4 ended. We see that Michael Myers has indeed survived being shot by state troopers, and has fallen down a mine shaft. He travels along a small river and makes his way to some tent that a homeless person is living in. He falls unconscious for an entire year, until Halloween 1989. Jamie meanwhile has spent the entire year in a state facility for children. She has not spoken one word the whole time. She can now however sense when Michael is near or when he is ready to strike. Anyways,Halloween night approaches and Michael is back in Haddonfield ready to hack and slash anything that gets in his way of murdering Jamie. We meet a younger set of characters (only there to add to the body count) which connect to Rachel from 'Halloween 4'. The film follows them along with Jamie/Loomis leading to an interesting conclusion.

'Halloween 5' is definitely the weakest of the original series. So many things that separate it from the rest, and make it less of a worthwhile watch. First of all, this one was scary or even that creepy in the slightest. The previous instalment actually did a great job at creating and establishing an eerie atmosphere. This was a rushed attempt at scary in my opinion. The acting was questionable (to say the least) from the supporting cast. Other than Pleasance and Harris, it wasn't anything to write home about. They also kill off an important character (to me anyways) EARLY on which I hated.

Michael Myers himself is also not intimidating at all. Don Shanks did a lackluster job in the role of the shadow. And the Myers house looked like some mausoleum/crypt mansion, nothing like the original. It's an insult to viewers to not even attempt to make it similar. And the kills were not well done, they felt cheap when compared to the first four films (even 'Halloween III' did a greater job...). It's still one that should be seen by all horror and 'Halloween' fans. It has it's moments plus establishes a storyline (the man in black) that carries on into the sixth film.

5/10

Halloween 5 is a disappointing movie for Halloween fans and horror movie fans. It lacks in plot, scares and suspense.

It's one year later after the events of Halloween 4. Michael survives the shootings and on October 31st he returns to Haddonfield. Jamie (the heroine of H4) is in Haddonfield's Children's Hospital after attacking her step-mother the previous year. She is being treated by Dr. Loomis with the aid of her step-sister Rachel and Rachel's friend Tina. Lurking and stalking, Michael forms a plan to lure Jamie out of the children's hospital where events lead up to a confrontation at Michael's childhood house.

OK, I like Donald Pleasence even though his performance went down a little and is a little cheesy. Danielle Harris does the best spending half the movie being mute. It's a great performance. Ellie Cornell is back as Rachael. She is a great character but gets killed off in the first ten minutes. The rest of the movie is filled with terribly acted, stupid teenagers. Even some of the characters from the Friday the 13th movies are better. The characters are all hateful and the script doesn't make much sense.

It's a typical slasher movie, which I don't like that much. Halloween 5 spends too much time on teenagers with silly teen lust combined with slasher stuff. There's even a part with 2 bumbling cops with three stooges like music playing in the background. It's just stupid. The story feels like it doesn't know what to do next. But it does excel when it cuts to the real story of Meyers chasing the girl and the doctor's relentless pursuit.

But the climax wasn't that bad, even though Michael's "demise" was absolutely ridicules with Loomis beating Michael with a piece of wood. Michael's childhood home looks completely different than how it looked in the first. The chase scenes with Jamie and Michael were pretty good. And a scene with Jamie hiding in a vent and Michael stabbing at it was pretty suspenseful. And it was different while being believable. That was the best part in the whole movie. Also the atmosphere is pretty good and very creepy. I would have given this 1 star if it wasn't for that.

So besides the climax Halloween 5 is pretty bad. You can tell it was rushed because of the success of Halloween 4.

2 stars (out of 4)